


Erased

by CorvidConundrum



Series: ..... [2]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Awkward Romance, Blood, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gen, M/M, Multi, Non Canon events, Non-Canon Relationship, Other, Platonic Relationships, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Psychosis, Romance, Sex, Sexual Content, Torture, Tragedy, Violence, Violent Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:31:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5810131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorvidConundrum/pseuds/CorvidConundrum





	1. Chapter 1

Spirit stood on the porch with a serious face that melted away when he saw stein. A loud boisterous laughter bubbled from his mouth, tears quickly springing to his eyes, when he saw Stein. “Where the hell did you get those shorts?” He asked making stein look down. He blinked. He swore he had grabbed the black silk ones off the top of the pile in the hamper but that was obviously not the case. The brilliant purple silk, with pink stitched hearts, were a stark contrast against his skin. He leaned against the door frame taking a deep draw from the cigarette as he stared at spirit waiting for the laughter to subside. “Is there a reason why you came by?” He asked blandly when the laughter didn't die off. Spirit sobered instantly, only the twinkling in his eyes left. “Yeah, Lord death has an emergency he needs us to take care of.” “Oh?” stein said arching a brow. “He didn't say much more than that, just that he'd explain when we were there in person.” A small noise behind him caught his attention and he tilted his head to the side. 

“Hi spirit, something wrong?” Marie said as she ran a brush through her hair. He smiled, she was wearing the shorts he thought he had grabbed and one of his shirts that hung off her loosely, the shoulders nearly see through from the water. “An emergency came up, looks like we'll have to reschedule the rest of our plans. Though now you can watch that movie you were talking about last night.” “Actually they need her up at the school in the nurses office.” Spirit said his voice wavered almost noticeably when he said the last part. Stein turned back to spirit with a question in his eyes. He could tell by the look in his eyes it wasn't good. Stein frowned squaring his shoulders as he pulled away from the door frame. “Give us a sec to get dressed.” He said tossing the half finished cigarette into the yard. There was a pause as he turned before spirit said “Aw but those shorts suit you” with a snicker. Stein rolled his eyes as he shut the door. “What do you thinks going on.” Marie asked quietly as she followed him. Stein shrugged before saying “What ever it is it must be pretty serious.”


	2. 2

The door shut behind them quietly as they exited the lab, Stein looked up at the sky and was greeted by massive rolling storm clouds. It had been sometime since the last bit of rain they had had and even longer for the last storm they had. The bulky angry clouds let loose an ominous rumble that he could feel resonate in his chest. A few faint flickers of lightning jumped behind the clouds. Stein sighed adjusting his glasses. “We should hurry before it starts pouring.” He said exhaling, smoke curling from his lips. Spirit nodded and they began heading to the school. 

The walk there was quiet. Little to no people were on the streets in anticipation of the massive storm rolling in. no birds called and any stray animals that may have been in the city seemed to have magically vanished. Steins thoughts pulled at him from a hundred directions and he tried in vain to push them aside and focus on what could possibly have gone wrong this time. The worst possible scenarios ate at him along with the worry about what both he and stein would face as well as what Marie would face. She wasn't particularly gifted in so far as acting as a doctor and if they simply needed a nurse they would have puled some one else in so it had to be something serious and most likely pertaining to some ones soul which meant either a staff member or one of the students had been harmed in some severe way. He knew how much it hurt her to see one of their students injured and if they were calling her in it would b something that made it hurt even more if it were a student and she had been acting strangely the past few weeks. More receptive to others pain, or was it that she was more sensitive than usual. He couldn't place his finger on it and it ate at him. The first hesitant drops were small and sporadic as they approached the school. The side walk steamed, cold water hitting hot pavement. They hurried inside as the water started coming down harder. Stein regretfully tosses his cigarette as he entered. 

“Marie.” Spirit said stopping just inside the door. “You should head to the nurses office. Stein and I need to speak with Lord Death.” She sighed mumbling about the schools layout as she trudged off offering him a weak smile. “Your unusually serious today Spirit.” stein said adjusting his screw as they went to the mirror room. The silence in the school was palpable, pressing on his shoulders as they walked. Spirit didn't answer only stared ahead as they walked. Stein could see out of the corner of his eyes that his jaws were clenched, the muscles in his face and neck bunching beneath unusually pale skin. “Something happen to Maka?” He asked. Spirit glanced at him as they ascended the stairs, his eyes were hard but he didn't say anything.


	3. 3

Death didn't offer the typical extravagant greeting, He didn't even turn when they entered. “Stein. We have a very serious matter at hand.” He furrowed his brow, Death sounded hoarse not at all like he normally did. The last time Stein had heard his voice like this was when they dealt with asura. His shoulders were hunched. The room, normally bright and cheery, was almost as dark as it was outside. “As you well know Kid, Maka, Black star, along with their weapons, were all sent on a team mission.” “As I recall correctly it was a reconnaissance job. They were to scout the ruins of a witches lab and report back.” Stein said. “They explored the first level with no problem, finding several notes and old letters of use. However after going below the first level all contact was lost. The ruins weren't as inactive as we initially thought.” Death said folding in one himself. “When the back up we sent arrived there only Maka, Tsubaki, Kid, and Liz were there. All were severely injured. 

“What are you saying” Stein asked, a feeling of unease knotting his stomach. “It would seem that the witch Lillith Camazotz is alive and active I fear.”. sweat jumped to the surface of his sin, the heavy feeling of unease quickly grew. The knot in his stomach falling away as his stomach slid onto the floor. It felt as if all the oxygen in the room was suddenly gone. “Then the students-?” He asked, voice breathy. “Tsubaki is the last one that will be coming out of surgery, and she should be out in about an hour. Apparently she intends to pick up on her research where she left off. Assuming she stopped while hidden from our gaze.” Death turned slowly to face them. “I'm sure I don't need to spell out how imperative it is we put a stop to it and rescue the missing students.” Stein nodded glancing at Spirit. “We should head out.” Spirit growled, his fists were clenching and unclenching. “The only intel we have regarding their movements says that they were heading towards Lancaster Kansas. Its a small town, with less than 300 people.


	4. 4

Water poured in a torrential down pour hitting the ground in waves as an icy wind howled. The sky was an angry black sea of roiling waves. Stein cursed as the rain put his cigarette out for a third time. Three days of constant rain and no new information was beginning to wear on him. Every fiber in his body was painfully aware of the time that passed. His partner wasn't doing much better either. Stein looked up at the sky, water pooling on his glasses, and tried to think. They'd searched the whole town as well as the surrounding area. There was nothing. Hell the closet town was at least fifteen minutes away and it wasn't much bigger than the one they were in. Nothing about the area stood out hell there wasn't even a local form of a tourist attraction. He cranked the bolt in in his head trying to think. There had to be something though. Some hidden base or they had wasted precious time coming here. He didn't want to consider it but the possibility of it ate at him. 

The bell on the door behind him and he turned looking at spirit. He shook his head and walked up beside stein. “This is getting us no where. We're as blind as bats here, we have no fucking clue where to even start.” Spirit said through clenched teeth as he kicked a rock. “The only thing around here is a fucking cave system that's being used as storage outside that other town.” He said kicking a rock, a small spray of water coming from his shoe as he did. The rock bounced off a trash can across the street and stein stared at it a moment before narrowing his eyes and looking at his partner. “A cave system?” He asked. “Yeah this place used to be the site of limestone mines or something I think is what they said but its being used as a storage for like dried milk and other non perishables in case of some kinda emergency. Why?” “Maybe there's more than one cave and that's not why were finding anything. Were above it.” Stein said cranking his screw as he pulled out another cigarette. “Perhaps we should take a look, that cave may be bigger than the locals think.” He lit it as he walked under an awning. “Its a start at least.”


	5. 5

Blood, thick and scalding hot, ran down his back and face. Soul had no idea how long he had been there, where the others were or if they were all still alive. His shoulders were screaming and he tried to shift in the manacles. The chains that held him by his wrists off the floor clinking faintly as he did. The manacles bit into his skin angrily as he tried to reach the floor but not even the tips of his toes scraped against the grungy surface below him. He cursed under his breath. Off in the distance he could hear black star start to scream again. Soul yanked at the chains hoping to pull them from the ceiling. He could only imagine what they were doing to his friend this time. The darkness was thick around him, there wasn't even light from beneath the door so he had no idea if he was making any progress or if he was just hurting himself more. He'd tried several times to switch to weapon form or even turn an arm or a leg into a blade but he couldn't, every time he tried a sharp searing pain radiated from his head. It was like a bomb went off in his head. 

Black star had stopped screaming, Soul wasn't sure how long it had been silent but was certain it wasn't a good sign. Quiet foot steps were quickly growing closer, a pit formed in his stomach, and he was suddenly blinded by lights. Had they finally gotten tired of torturing Black star or was he dead. The image of his friends form crumpled into a heap and blood soaked flashed through his head and he fought the urge to scream. A buzzer went off, the audible sound of a lock clicking open echoed through out the room just before a door in front of him opened. Through the tears streaming from his slowly adjusting eyes he could just barely make out the forms of three people.

The lights dimmed a bit and he was able make out the features of the people in front of him. There were two young men, he assumed by the way they were built wearing plain white masks with nothing more than black eye holes. They were long white lab coats and black knee high boots. The one in the center was in a black dress that fit so well it left nothing to the imagination. The woman had a blank expression on her face as she walked around him inspecting every inch of him with out even touching him. A chill settled on him, goosebumps springing to the nape of his neck. It wasn't an intimate stare but it still unnerved him and he made his best effort to keep her in his line of sight. He wanted to scream and demand answers but something in him kept him from making a sound. She stopped just in front of him narrowing her eyes and leaned in close to him. “I suppose this one will have to do. The other weapon is already broken and unfit to pair with another test subject.” she held his hand out to the masked figures behind her.


	6. 6

A blade bit into his skin and he fought the urge the scream, bucking in the chains in an attempt to get away from the blade. Nerves screamed and burned where they had cut him. He felt his heart pounding through inch of his skin.“Sedate the boy, not too deeply though. I want him fully conscious when we cure him.” The woman said dryly. Soul raised him self up by the manacles to kick the masked man approaching with a syringe straight in the face knocking him on his ass. The woman frown and sighed. “We're doing this for you're own good kid, we're trying to right a wrong made centuries ago.” She said shifting in her seat. “Oh yeah and whats that?” he said through clenched teeth. “The one that lead to you're very existence.” She said bluntly leaning forward. “Wha-” “800 years ago that arrogant fool Arachne created the first demon weapons. Now I seek to undo her….creations”. Soul felt his heart stop for a moment. This woman was mad. Cure them of being weapons? That wasn't possible…. Was it? “If you want to neutralize weapons then what were you doing to black star?” He asked, nearly screaming as he felt the blade bite into his back. “And how the hell is this supposed to cure us?” 

The witch in front of him made a small motion, he glanced at the guy on the floor who was most likely out cold since he hadn't even so much as twitched. The masked man behind him walked to the front of him. In his hand he held not a blade but a pure quartz crystal glowing a bright sickly green. “By using sigils that are individually made on the back, neck and arms we remove all traces of the curse. Its still in testing faze but thus far both meisters and weapons have survived with minimal damage. Though sometimes the mind doesn’t make it all the way through the process as it literally wipes the soul completely to its barest form.” “Why? Why would you do this you fucking psycho.” He spat out as the man walked back out of his sight. She frowned deeply standing. He expected a slap but received a punch to the chest that knocked all the air from him. His vision swam, brilliant silver and abysmal black dots dancing before his eyes. He fought to suck in air, ears ringing, and the second he did another hit drove a weak squeak from his throat. Fear swallowed him. The taste of copper bit at his mouth, it reminded him faintly like the taste of blood and he wondered at the thought of it his mind sluggish as the room sunk away from him. It spiraled slowly to a small grey dot and the sensation of floating surrounded him. His thoughts fell away as a loud sound rushed through his ears. Like a waterfall but not quite. He struggled against the blackness, a searing pain at his neck pushing him back down into it.


	7. 7

Stein and Spirit had managed to convince the city managers to hand over the key and now they were picking their way through the towering pallets of dried goods and various other things that the people of the city had begun to stockpile for disasters. It was hard to imagine this as a cave with the tiled floor, the white tiles and florescent lights. Everything seemed to be organized and a far cry from what he had expected. A loud clatter made him cringe. He turned to see Spirit pinned between a fallen shelf, its contents spilled all over the floor, and the artificial wall. He sighed rolling his eyes. “Honestly if there if you were any louder there'd be no way we could sneak on any possible enemies.” He said pulling the shelf back to the upright position. Spirit cut a glare at him as he tried to upright himself. A strange look crossed his face and he turned look at his arm which was embedded in the wall. 

Spirit pulled his arm free and looked into the hole. “I think there's something back there” He said. Steins foot hit just millimeters from his face causing a small portion of the false wall to crumble. “you're foot was unnecessarily close to my head you ass.” Spirit growled at him. The area behind the wall was dark, the smooth cave floor and walls an odd grey color with bands of black and green snaking through them. The glaring light of the florescent lights behind them only eating the shadows away for a few small feet. Stein cranked the bolt in his head and pulled a flash light from his lab coat pocket. When he clicked the light on the beam cut into the darkness illuminating stalactites and stalagmites in the yawning mouth of a passageway. 

A cool breeze trickled from the darkness. Their footsteps were muffled echoes bouncing from the stone around them. The place was as still as a graveyard as if holding its breath. The farther they got from the storage room the more it began to feel as if some one were watching them but stein had yet to detect any soul aside from theirs. Stein stopped, the floor in front of them had suddenly disappeared into the darkness. He swept the narrow beam of light around, they had entered a large anti chamber which floor was unseen in the darkness. He could hear the trickling of water some where off to their left.


	8. 8

Stein watched as Spirit kicked a small pebble into the darkness. One, two, three. A clatter echoed up at them. “It may not be far but we don't know what-” He stopped mid sentence as the redhead jumped into the darkness. He rolled his eyes and a muffled thump echoed up to him. “You coming?” Spirit called up. Stein cranked his bolt a few times then jumped. The darkness around him was thick and seemed almost solid. Suddenly the darkness pulled away from him and the ground rushed to greet him. He landed almost on his knees. He looked around. There was only was exit to the room on the far side and the darkness above them was impenetrable. It must have been some sort of magical curtain. Cautiously they walked to the passageway on the far side of the room. There were several open door ways along it, the rooms filled with assorted equipment or entirely empty. The hallway, for lack of a better word, suddenly dead ended to a large steel door. He pushed took a deep breath and pushed it open. 

Souls eyes were glassy and empty as he seemed to stare through him. His face was slack and pale, a layer of caked on and dried blood covered most of it looking a lot like rust. He just stood there, his breathing so shallow and spaced that it was as if he wasn't breathing at all. Black Star was in a crumpled heap on the floor, laying as if her were a rag doll that had been carelessly tossed aside. Patti was sitting in the corner, her back to them, covered in grime and blood. None of them moved or even acknowledged them. Stein took the sight of it in. Anger, no rage filling him. Pure rage burned through his veins and the muscles in his hands sang out, screaming to find the neck of the beings who would so such a thing. Spirit punched the heavy steel door cursing under his breath. Stein wasn't listening close enough to hear what he was saying, not that he would have heard it over the sea of noise that began to swell in his head. He could feel something clicking in him, or was it breaking? An odd feeling crept into him, vaguely reminiscent of adrenaline but lifetimes away from it at the same time. It reminded him of the feeling that clung to him when he tore himself from a nightmare. His mind finally clamped on the only word that could possible explain the sensation. Violence.

He turned to leave the room, his jaw muscles clenched straining as his teeth ground. “Where the hell you going?” Spirits voice sounded as if it were miles away. “Our job is to bring them back, when they're safe we can hunt down the people that did this.” Stein looked at him, the words made no sense in his head. Words made no sense. Action did. Act was what he was going to do.


	9. 9

Marie's heart clenched every time her eyes settled on the silent forms of the children. The machines hooked up to them, the tube that ran into Tsubaki's mouth, the I.V's. The sight of it made hot tears spring to her eye when she had first walked into the room. Even now it felt like a serrated blade was being drug across her heart. She curled up tighter in the small recliner, she had no idea how long it would take them to heal even with her wave length. She'd never been asked to donate her wavelength to those with injuries this severe before. 

Quiet footsteps echoed in the hall, stopping just outside the door. There was a faint click as the door opened and she raised her gaze, eye settling on Death. Even hidden behind the mask she could tell his face was contorted into pain. She looked back to the students laying on the beds. The two of them stayed that way for a while. Quiet in all but their thoughts, the sound of the monitors they were hooked up to the only thing that broke the silence. It was maddening. Being there, seeing the aftermath of what that witch had done to them. She knew they needed her here but she wanted to be out there with stein but she was needed here. She closed her eye and fought to keep her wavelength from stuttering, fought not to cry again. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and with a shuddering sigh she opened her eye and looked up at Death. His form looked as if it was folded in on itself, smaller than it normally was. “Naigus said that they are stable and now out of the critical hours. They should pull through and be just fine.” His voice was thin and weak. The silence grew between them, palpable, before he added. “Last I head from Spirit and Stein they were hot on her trail, they think they found her hide out.” Marie's heart clenched, what horrors were they going to find, what had the witch done to the missing students, what sort of fight were they going to face. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit into it.


End file.
